Rocket projectile cartridge

ABSTRACT

A rocket projectile cartridge in which an ejector groove is provided on the rear of the cartridge for ejecting a faulty round. All of the propellant, the firing pin and primer are contained within the cartridge and move outwardly therewith as the cartridge is fired. The firing of the cartridge is accomplished by (a) the closing of the breach bolt in an open bolt weapon, (b) striking by a hammer contained in the breach block, or (c) the rearward movement of a barrel assembly against a stationary or semifloating breach block.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Morris Roger NichoLson 2,307,369 1/1943 Ferrel .1

955 S. Christine Road, Wichita, Kans. 2,407,264 9/1946 Ferrel... 67218 3,349,708 10/1967 Paget [21] Appl. No. 863,452 3,437,289 4/1969 Biehl et al .i [22] Filed Oct. 3, 1969 FORElGN PATENTS [451 meme! 1971 585,648 2/1947 Great Britain Primary Examiner-Robert F. Stahl [54] ROCKET PROJECTILE CARTRIDGE Attorney-Victor E. Evans & Co.

5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl 102/49, ABSTRACT: A rocket projectnfi cartridge in which an ejector 102/38 groove is provided on the rear of the cartridge for ejecting a [51] lnLCl F42b 13/28 f lt d. All of the propellant, the firing pin and primer [50] Field Of Search 102/38, are contained i i the cartridge and move outwardly 344 therewith as the cartridge is fired. The firing of the cartridge is accomplished by (a) the closing of the breach bolt in an open [56] Reierences cued bolt weapon, (b) striking by a hammer contained in the UNITED STATES PATENTS breach block, or (c) the rearward movement of a barrel as- 1,481,872 1/1924 Miller 102/497 sembly against a stationary or semifloating breach block.

2 33 I6 /5 l4 Z9 M 30 /7 2/ Z7 Z6 Z4 5 Patented Au 24, 1971 I 3,601,056

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I N V EN 'I'OR.

flm/ 05m Mammal IVE/V675 ROCKET PROJECTILE CARTRIDGE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to rocket projectile cartridges which leave no portion thereof which needs to be ejected from the breach following the firing thus eliminating the time and mechanism required for ejecting the cartridge case from conventional weapons.

2. Description of the Prior Art Prior art rocket projectile cartridges have either failed to provide means for simply ejecting the cartridge should it be defective or have had some small portion of the cartridge remaining in the chamber after the projectile was fired from the gun. Anything remaining in the chamber after the bullet is fired of course must be ejected.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention consists generally of a rocket projectile cartridge in which the firing pin, primer and the propellant are all contained within the projectile and with the exception of the propellant move with the projectile as it leaves the barrel of the gun. A groove at the rear of the cartridge provides means for ejecting a round should it be defective and fail to fire at the proper time.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a rocket projectile cartridge no portion of which remains in the chamber of the gun after the cartridge is fired and which can be removed simply from the chamber of the gun in the event the cartridge is defective.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent in the following specification when considered in light of the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1 looking in the direction of the arrow.

FIG. 3 is a front elevation of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a rear elevation of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein like reference characters indicate like parts throughout the several figures the reference numeral indicates generally a rocket projectile cartridge constructed in accordance with the inventron.

The rocket projectile cartridge 10 includes an outer hull 11 having a bullet shape beginning at a nose l2 and having a blunt rear end 13. The outer hull 11 has an axial bore 14 opening inwardly from the rear end 13 and extending substantially half way from the rear end 13 to the nose 12. A reduced diameter bore 15 extends axially inwardly from the bore 14 and a reduced diameter bore 16 extends axially inwardly from the bore 15 as can be best seen in FIG. 2. A bore 17 extends axially inwardly from the bore 16 and terminates short of the nose 12. The bore 14 is counterbored at 18 adjacent to the rear wall 13 and is internally threaded at 19 at the rear end 13.

A firing pin 20 is seated in the bore 17 and extends centrally through the bore 16 into the bore 15. A coil compression spring 21 is seated in the bore 16 and extends rearwardly into the bore 15 for reasons to be assigned. A retaining flange 22 is integrally formed on the outer hull 11 adjacent to its rear end 13 and projects radially outwardly beyond the surface of the outer hull I1. I

An inner core generally indicated at 23 is cylindrical in cross section having a portion 24 of a size to slidably engage in the bore 14 and carries threads 25 which are adapted to mate with the threads 19 and after passing therethrough to be slidably received in the counterbore 18. A reduced diameter extension 26 is formed on the inner end of core 23 and is slidably received in the bore 15. The core 15 has a cylindrical primer pocket 27 extending axially inwardly from its inner end and terminating in a relatively small flash hole 28 of a relatively short length. A tapered concentric propellant chamber 29 opens through the rear 30 of the core 23 and communicates at its forward end with the flash hole 28. The chamber 29 has an annular groove 31 adjacent to the rear end 30 to receive a plug 32 which is seated therein.. An annular flange 33 is formed on the rear end of the core 23 and has an outer diameter slightly less than the major diameter of the outer hull 11 and substantially less than the diameter of the flange 12.

In the use and operation of the invention a conventional primer (not shown) is fitted in the flash hole 28 and the primer pocket 27 in a position to be struck by the firing pin 20 upon forward movement of the core 23 with respect to the hull 11. The chamber 29 is filled with a conventional explosive propellant and the plug 32 is inserted in the groove 31 to seal the propellant in the chamber 29. The plug 32 is formed of any conventional inflammable material which will completely burn up with the propellant in the chamber 29. For normal handling the threads 25 are threaded into the threads 19 so that the threads 25 and 19 remain engaged to prevent the core 23 from sliding in or out of the core 11. Upon reaching the ultimate consumer the caseless cartridge 10 is prepared for firing by pressing inwardly on the core 23 and simultaneously rotating it so that the threads 25 move inwardly out of engagement with the threads 19. This releases the core 23 so that it may slide inwardly in the outer hull 11 so that the primer can be struck by the firing pin 20. The coil spring 21 urges the core 23 outwardly of the outer hull 11 to prevent the firing pin 20 from striking the primer until a considerable force is brought to bear on the core 23. In this condition the rocket projectile cartridge 10 is loaded into the chamber of the weapon and the space between the end 13 and the flange 33 serves as an extraction groove for withdrawing the rocket projectile cartridge 10 from the chamber of the weapon should it fail to explode at the proper time. The inner core can be moved forwardly to cause the firing pin to strike the primer by, (a) the closing of the breach bolt in an open bolt weapon, (b) striking by a hammer which is contained in the breach block, and (c) the rearward movement of a barrel assembly against a stationary or semifloating breach block.

It should be understood that any method for moving the core forward in the outer hull can be used to explode the caseless cartridge 10.

The annular flange 22 is used to position the cartridge 10 in the chamber of the weapon and is compressed inwardly on firing of the cartridge to permit it to leave the barrel with the cartridge.

Having thus described the preferred embodiment of the invention it should be understood that numerous structural modifications and adaptations may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A rocket projectile cartridge comprising an outer hull, said hull having an axial bore extending forwardly from the rear end thereof, a firing pin mounted in said outer hull at the forward end of said axial bore and extending into said axial bore, a hollow inner core for supporting a primer and a charge of explosive propellant, said inner core being longitudinally slidably mounted in said axial bore with the primer supported to engage said firing pin upon forward sliding motion of said inner core with respect to said outer hull, resilient means normally urging said inner core outwardly of said outer hull, and means on said inner core cooperating with means on said outer hull for releasably securing said inner-core in said outer hull.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means of said inner core cooperating with the means on said outer hull comprise threads on said inner core and threads on said outer hull releasably engaged together.

3. A device as claimed in claim I wherein the resilient means normally urging said inner core out of said outer hull I removal of said caseless cartridge upon misfiring.

5. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein flame consumable means are provided for sealing the explosive propellant in the hollow of said inner core. 

1. A rocket projectile cartridge comprising an outer hull, said hull having an axial bore extending forwardly from the rear end thereof, a firing pin mounted in said outer hull at the forward enD of said axial bore and extending into said axial bore, a hollow inner core for supporting a primer and a charge of explosive propellant, said inner core being longitudinally slidably mounted in said axial bore with the primer supported to engage said firing pin upon forward sliding motion of said inner core with respect to said outer hull, resilient means normally urging said inner core outwardly of said outer hull, and means on said inner core cooperating with means on said outer hull for releasably securing said inner core in said outer hull.
 2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means of said inner core cooperating with the means on said outer hull comprise threads on said inner core and threads on said outer hull releasably engaged together.
 3. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the resilient means normally urging said inner core out of said outer hull comprises a coil spring mounted in said outer hull forwardly of said inner core and bearing against the forward end of said inner core.
 4. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein means are provided on said inner core cooperating with the rear end of said outer hull to provide an annular extraction groove for the removal of said caseless cartridge upon misfiring.
 5. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein flame consumable means are provided for sealing the explosive propellant in the hollow of said inner core. 